Kaleidoscopic Setting as a Style in Magical Realism in a Swahili Polymorphic Novel

This paper critically examines kaleidoscopic setting as a style employed by polymorphic Swahili novelists. It focuses on Babu Alipofufuka (2001), a novel by Said Ahmed Mohammed which is loosely translated as “When grandfather resurrected” or “When grandfather came back to life,” (Olali, 2010, 84). It further attempts to demonstrate how kaleidoscopic setting is juxtaposed with hallucinatory realism in a geographical sense and investigates the complexities of separating realism and hallucinatory realism within a dream state. The paper argues that kaleidoscopic setting as a style is a trend towards narrative experimentation in Babu Alipofufuka and bears distinctive features of postmodernist writing.